Ginkgo Bioworks and Google Cloud recently announced a 5-year strategic partnership to enable Ginkgo to develop and deploy artificial intelligence (AI) tools for biology and biosecurity.
Under the partnership, Ginkgo will work to develop new large language models that run on Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform across genomics, protein function, and synthetic biology. These models and the platform will help Ginkgo’s customers in fields as diverse as drug discovery, agriculture, industrial manufacturing, and biosecurity, the companies said.
Ginkgo intends to make Google Cloud its primary cloud services provider to increase its next-generation cloud computing resources. Google Cloud will provide funding to help Ginkgo achieve certain milestones over the next 3 years.
The companies anticipate that their collaboration will result in new Ginkgo offerings and initiatives. In addition to including large language models, the companies envision developing new advanced infrastructure, generative AI enterprise search, development of improved central data repositories, and public data aggregation and exchange.
VELA DIAGNOSTICS AND SRL COLLABORATE ON PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION IN JAPAN
Vela Diagnostics has established a collaboration with the Japanese healthcare services company SRL to facilitate the distribution of Vela Diagnostics’ molecular diagnostic solutions in Japan.
Vela Diagnostics aims to capitalize on SRL’s comprehensive distribution network and market understanding, enabling the company to introduce its Sentosa SQ HIV-1 Genotyping Assay Kit to Japanese healthcare and diagnostic institutions.
SRL officials said that their company has begun feasibility studies for the Sentosa SQ HIV-1 Genotyping Assay Kit. The Sentosa SQ HIV-1 Genotyping Assay is Vela’s solution for automated next-generation sequencing (NGS) of HIV-1, which received Food and Drug Administration de novo designation in 2019, the officials said. They added that the assay has relatively low hands-on and turnaround time, offers sensitivity to mutations in three key drug targets, and provides critical insights into the virus’s drug resistance profile.
Vela Diagnostics officials said that SRL’s extensive network and expertise would augment their company’s ability to deliver innovative products to patients and healthcare providers in Japan.
DEAL AIMS TO ADVANCE CLINICAL AND BIOLOGICAL INSIGHT FROM NGS DATA
United Kingdom-based OGT recently announced a new partnership with Intelliseq to provide customers with a thorough and comprehensive next-generation sequencing (NGS) workflow.
The partnership will enhance lab productivity by automating the interpretation of NGS data and delivering actionable insights about cancer, OGT officials said.
In addition, Intelliseq’s biological and clinical interpretation will allow its SureSeq users to examine any genomic content they want while receiving insight from a wide variety of clinical and biological databases.
Intelliseq officials said that partnering with OGT is an opportunity for their company to expand the reach of its advanced NGS reporting solutions.
PARTNERSHIP TARGETS SYNDROMIC DISEASES AND DRUG-RESISTANT PATHOGENSS
A partnership between Seegene and Springer Nature is intended to better diagnose syndromic and infectious diseases, as well as detect drug-resistant pathogens, Seegene announced recently.
Seegene said that its “Open Innovation Program” is part of its Seegene OneSystem business, which develops diagnostic products and early diagnosis methods in all fields, including cancer and infectious diseases. To achieve this goal, the Seegene OneSystem business will share Seegene’s technology and expertise.
The inaugural Open Innovation Program consists of 15 projects to develop 15 syndromic quantitative PCR (qPCR) diagnostics assay reagents across infectious and vector-borne diseases and for detection of drug-resistant pathogens. The 15 projects encompass categories including urinary tract infection, dermatophytes, sexually transmitted infection, vaginitis screening, respiratory panel, nontuberculous mycobacteria typing, tick-borne disease, tropical fever virus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and multidrug-resistant organisms.
A PCR molecular diagnostics company typically can develop only a few syndromic assays annually. However, with the Open Innovation Program, Seegene aims to significantly increase the number of assays that can be developed to hundreds and thousands a year, Seegene said.
The program has already sought applications for research grants. Awardees, which Seegene plans to announce in March 2024, will get research grants of up to $600,000 per project, plus Seegene’s syndromic qPCR reagents, extraction reagents, consumables, education on clinical study methods, instruments, and software for automated experimentation at no cost to use and perform preclinical and clinical studies for defined target pathogens during the study period.
Seegene officials said that their company will initially lead the Open Innovation Program’s product design, product development planning, and feasibility studies without clinical specimens so the awardees can focus on conducting preclinical and clinical studies with clinical specimens. “In the next phase, awardees will utilize the Seegene Digitalized Development System to conduct the entire development program from product designs to clinical validations.”
Springer Nature officials urged scientists from different fields to collaborate with Seegene in the development of PCR assays that can have a real impact on global health.
BIOFIRE DEFENSE SECURES $18.8M U.S. DEFENSE CONTRACT FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE TESTING
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently awarded BioMérieux subsidiary BioFire Defense an $18,815,630 order-dependent contract for maintenance and support of the DoD’s Next Generation Diagnostic System.
Under the contract, BioFire Defense will provide support for a military-use version of the firm’s multiplex PCR instrument for infectious disease testing through January 31, 2029. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, according to DoD.
Genome Web has reported that the company is also providing the Department of Defense custom BioFire FilmArray test panels developed under the Next Generation Diagnostic System (NGDS) program.
The newly awarded contract comes 10 years after the DoD awarded BioFire Defense’s parent company and two other companies $23.1 million to develop the NGDS platform, according to Genome Web.